melonheadorion
Well-Known Member
i want to preface this by saying that i am in no rush, so if i need to wait, i get it.
i have an established tank already, which is just a 20g. everythign i have, is within that one at the moment. a couple weeks ago (at least 2 weeks), i finally added water to my new 65g tank, and setup my sump (i have not been running my skimmer during this time). everything has been running since. i did a fishless cycle with a jumbo shrimp (or at least, am doing). i let the shrimp sit in there up to the beginning of this week, when i decided to take it out to let the system do its thing with the cycle.
its been maybe a week and a half since i added fritzyme 9 for bacteria, and am waiting for the process to work. i took out the shrimp when my ammonia level was at 2.
let me also say that for quick, cheap testing, but i use an API kit, but i also test with the red sea kit when i want more accurate results. i also know that API is generally pretty inaccurate. i also know that both the API and red sea dont convert the TAN, so i know i need to do that myself, but thats beyond what i am going to ask.
since the API kit is quick, ive been testing with that, and have come to the following results.
ammonia- 2.0
nitrite (even though many dont do it, i at least use it to see if its converting at all)-.25
nitrate-part of the reason why i was doing nitrite is because nitrate doesnt seem to be going up, or at least much, and when you see the red sea results, it will make sense- 0-5
over a week ago, i did the above test to see if i have ammonia. generally, when there is bacteria, such as that which i added manually, it should start to convert in, lets say a week (4 days to seed, 24-48 hrs for it to feed). the API kit notices that there is some converting happening, assuming that its reading the nitrate correctly, and its seeing ammonia. i have no reason to doubt the ammonia since a full jumbo shrimp was half gone by the time i pulled it. however, im curious as to everyones thoughts on the red sea results vs the API
red sea results-
ammonia-2.0 (seems to match api. RS doesnt go higher than 2, so i can only assume that its really at 2).
nitrite- again, just for the sake of comparing numbers- .5-1
nitrate-10
as you can see, the numbers between the two dont really match, nor does it really surprise me. however, the ammonia level does not seem to be dropping (neither test kit shows a change).
my curiousity is, with some change in nitrate, there is obviously the cycle happening, albeit slowly, (and i think ive read this through different threads) should i just wait a bit and let ammonia slowly drop, and nitrate rise on its own a bit longer before doing a large water change, or is the fact that the numbers not changing due to ammonia being quite high, and they arent reading right due to elevated numbers elsewhere? IE ammonia level so high its not allowing nitrate to read properly, or whatever.
i obviously know that doing a water change will drop numbers, thats obvious. however, my intent is to move 7 fish to the new tank, and dont want an instance where the tank is not ready to receive them. hence why i say i am in no rush. i already have a home for them currently, and i really dont want to rush a cycle for the sake of doing a fast fish transfer, if that makes sense.
i know i will probably hear that the tank is cycled, and i would agree, but my question is more about being benecial to wait out the current levels for them to lower themselves before doing a large water change, or do a water change now, and reduce the amount of ammonia to be more beneficial to the cycle?
p.s. in case anyone asks, the water is not cloudy, i do not have any algae issues, no odor, etc. also, i dont remember how many pounds of rock/substrate i added. i want to say its probably 45-60, but its enough to make a 65 gallon tank, drop the amount of water it can hold to 52
i have an established tank already, which is just a 20g. everythign i have, is within that one at the moment. a couple weeks ago (at least 2 weeks), i finally added water to my new 65g tank, and setup my sump (i have not been running my skimmer during this time). everything has been running since. i did a fishless cycle with a jumbo shrimp (or at least, am doing). i let the shrimp sit in there up to the beginning of this week, when i decided to take it out to let the system do its thing with the cycle.
its been maybe a week and a half since i added fritzyme 9 for bacteria, and am waiting for the process to work. i took out the shrimp when my ammonia level was at 2.
let me also say that for quick, cheap testing, but i use an API kit, but i also test with the red sea kit when i want more accurate results. i also know that API is generally pretty inaccurate. i also know that both the API and red sea dont convert the TAN, so i know i need to do that myself, but thats beyond what i am going to ask.
since the API kit is quick, ive been testing with that, and have come to the following results.
ammonia- 2.0
nitrite (even though many dont do it, i at least use it to see if its converting at all)-.25
nitrate-part of the reason why i was doing nitrite is because nitrate doesnt seem to be going up, or at least much, and when you see the red sea results, it will make sense- 0-5
over a week ago, i did the above test to see if i have ammonia. generally, when there is bacteria, such as that which i added manually, it should start to convert in, lets say a week (4 days to seed, 24-48 hrs for it to feed). the API kit notices that there is some converting happening, assuming that its reading the nitrate correctly, and its seeing ammonia. i have no reason to doubt the ammonia since a full jumbo shrimp was half gone by the time i pulled it. however, im curious as to everyones thoughts on the red sea results vs the API
red sea results-
ammonia-2.0 (seems to match api. RS doesnt go higher than 2, so i can only assume that its really at 2).
nitrite- again, just for the sake of comparing numbers- .5-1
nitrate-10
as you can see, the numbers between the two dont really match, nor does it really surprise me. however, the ammonia level does not seem to be dropping (neither test kit shows a change).
my curiousity is, with some change in nitrate, there is obviously the cycle happening, albeit slowly, (and i think ive read this through different threads) should i just wait a bit and let ammonia slowly drop, and nitrate rise on its own a bit longer before doing a large water change, or is the fact that the numbers not changing due to ammonia being quite high, and they arent reading right due to elevated numbers elsewhere? IE ammonia level so high its not allowing nitrate to read properly, or whatever.
i obviously know that doing a water change will drop numbers, thats obvious. however, my intent is to move 7 fish to the new tank, and dont want an instance where the tank is not ready to receive them. hence why i say i am in no rush. i already have a home for them currently, and i really dont want to rush a cycle for the sake of doing a fast fish transfer, if that makes sense.
i know i will probably hear that the tank is cycled, and i would agree, but my question is more about being benecial to wait out the current levels for them to lower themselves before doing a large water change, or do a water change now, and reduce the amount of ammonia to be more beneficial to the cycle?
p.s. in case anyone asks, the water is not cloudy, i do not have any algae issues, no odor, etc. also, i dont remember how many pounds of rock/substrate i added. i want to say its probably 45-60, but its enough to make a 65 gallon tank, drop the amount of water it can hold to 52
